Thursday, January 8, 2009

Easy Sausage "Gumbo"

One of my favorite ways of making sure we get all of our vegetables in the winter without it costing an arm and a leg is to use packages of frozen vegetables. Often they are flash-frozen at their peak without a lot of additives like sodium and other preservatives. At our Kroger, they also conveniently have packages called Recipe Beginnings with frozen stir-fry vegetables, mirepoix, and vegetable soup vegetables. When I saw this Recipe Beginnings with gumbo vegetables, I immediately picked one up knowing it would be a super-easy weeknight meal with the addition of some pre-cooked sausage.

Easy Sausage "Gumbo"

Ingredients

1 14.5 can diced tomatoes
16 oz pre-cooked sausage, sliced (I used Hillshire Farms Spicy Chipotle Sausage)
1 package Recipe Beginnings Vegetable Gumbo Mix (contains okra, corn, onion, celery, and red bell pepper)
Cajun seasoning and Tabasco Sauce to taste
2 cups cooked brown rice

Preparation

Heat a Dutch oven or large pot over medium-high heat. Cook sausage in pot until heated through and browning. Add the tomatoes and vegetable mix to the pot, adding Cajun seasoning to flavor. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 25-30 minutes. Taste occasionally and add Cajun seasoning or Tabasco sauce as desired. Serve over brown rice.

Yield: 4 servings